Impact of the Death of a Spouse

The objective of this research is to consider the manner in which the death of a spouse affects the surviving spouse, how people cope with the strain, and what sorts of services and professionals are available to help them through this difficult time. Various theorists have noted that there are stages of grief, and research has shown that these stages can be found not only in a situation where the spouse has died but also in situations where the spouse is facing death or otherwise triggers a grieving process and a sense of loss, as happens with older couples when one partner has Alzheimer's and is thus being effectively taken away without actually dying. Everyone will have to experience this sense of loss someday. For most people, if they are the surviving spouse, the death of a spouse will be a particularly traumatic event. It is beneficial for them to understand the nature of their feelings before this occurs and to understand how long the process takes, what the stages of the process will be, how others have managed to cope with the situation, and what they might do to make the trauma easier in their own case. It is proposed that the death of a spouse is a particularly traumatic event for the surviving spouse and that it can be especially unsettling for the older population as the surviving spouse comes to feel more and more alone as the survivor of another time as well as a marriage. The research will consider relevant literature on the topic and also

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ealth), social (loss of a friend or a cherished neighborhood), psychological (loss of self-esteem or confidence), emotional (loss of a spouse or child), or any combination of these losses. It seems that it is not the loss itself that is the key factor but the unexpectedness and swiftness of its occurrence, the reaction of the individual to the loss, and the synergistic effect of the loss when combined with existing problems. For this reason, a rapid succession of losses can be devastating. Miller also considers studies that have indicated some mental or emotional problems for geriatric suicides. One researcher felt that most of the suicidal elderly suffered from psychoses that are either organic dementias or one of the depressive states. It is likely that all suicidal people are depressed, which can also result from loss, grief, or despair. Depression also commonly follows illnesses, and the elderly are often ill. The loss of a spouse on top of this can be devastating. The grief and loss felt by a spouse can be increased when that spouse has been caring for a husband or wife for some time, as is often the case with older couples. Miller says that those who attempt suicide do so because they cross a "line of unbearabilit

Category: Psychology - I